Song Study – ‘I wish that that the wars were well over’ (Roud 2036)
Introduction
The version of Roud 2036 that Baring-Gould collected from Sam Fone is the only instance of it
having been collected from a singer in the field, and it is the instance from which the song has
entered the revival repertoire. Richards and Stubbs were the first to publish and record the song,
using Sam Fone’s text from his Fair Copy manuscript, augmented from the Seventeenth Century
text in Carey’s book, The Singer’s Songbag. The primary source for revival singers has not, though,
been Fone’s original text, but the one re-written by Baring-Gould for his book A Garland of
Country Song. The transmission of this text has been through the edited version printed by Roy
Palmer and recorded by Roy Harris and others. This has, in turn, been adopted by other
performers, with some slight changes.
The song was first printed in the Eighteenth Century on broadsides and garlands and there is a
fascinating survival of the song in the manuscripts of the American prisoner of war, Timothy
Connor. This has led to a new strand of the song, as a result of the version created from it by Tim
Eriksen. Another new strand has recently been created by the Askew Sisters, based, mostly, on
Baring-Gould’s revised text. It will be interesting to continue to follow the way in which the song
changes in revival performances both here and in the USA.
The following diagram outlines the way in which the song has flowed from the C18th street print
version to the versions that are being sung today.
In the rest of the document, I will look at this in more detail.
Baring-Gould’s record of the song in his manuscripts and published texts
Sabine Baring-Gould first met Samuel Fone in October 1892 and, discovering that he had a large
repertoire of songs, visited him several times over the next two years, collecting at least 124 songs
from him; more than from any of his other singers. He noted the words for ‘I would that the wars
were all over’ on 27 February 1893, but the tune had to wait until his colleague, Frederick Bussell,
was with him a month later. Baring-Gould wrote to Lucy Broadwood on 8 March, listing this song
as one that he had heard from Fone, but giving it the title ‘Down in the meadows where violets are
blue’ – part of its first line.
Sam Fone’s song text was:
Twas down in the meadows where the violets are blue
I saw pretty Polly a-milking her cow.
The song that she sung made all the grove ring
“O my Billy’s gone from me to serve George the King
And I would that the wars were well over
Crying O that the wars were well over!
I steppéd up to her & made this reply
I said pretty Polly what makes you to cry?
My Bill is gone from me, that I love so dear
And the ‘Mericans will kill him, so great is my fear
And I would that the wars were well over
Crying O &c.
I said, Pretty Polly can you fancy me?
I’ll make you as happy as happy can be.
O no, pretty Sir, I can never love you,
To my Billy alone I am constant & true
And I would that the wars were well over
Crying O &c.
This is Sam Fone’s tune:
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Baring-Gould said that the Fone could not remember any more verses. The song was recorded in
his Personal Copy manuscript, Ref. P2, 417 (366), [Image SBG/1/2/826] and in his Fair Copy
manuscript F, 427 (182), [Image SBG/3/1/838].
Though the song did appear on broadsides, there were not copies of it in Baring-Gould’s own
collection, or the British Museum Printed Books Department collections that he usually consulted.
He was not, therefore, able to use a printed text to complete the song. He chose, instead, to revise
the song for publication in A Garland of Country Song (1895), rather than simply complete it. This
is quite an extensive re-writing – in my view, he has rather overdone it, but it is his revised text
(albeit with some omissions and further changes) that has been taken up by the majority of revival
singers, as we shall see.
The Garland of Country Song text is as follows:
I Would that the Wars were Well Over
In the meadow one morning when pearly with dew
A fair pretty maid plucked violets blue
I heard her clear voice making all the woods ring
"Oh my love is in Flanders to fight for the King
And I would that the wars were well over
O I would that the wars were all done
O violet, in-vil’ate, the oath may it prove
My lover swore to me, when in the green grove
In France and in Flanders are maidens as well
He sings of his Nell as to battle he goes
And I would that the wars were well over, etc.
I’ll pluck the red robin so jaunty and gay
Yet I have my Robin – but he's far away
His jacket is red and his cheeks as the rose
He sings of his Nell as to battle he goes
And I would that the wars were well over, etc.
Ten thousands of blue bells now welcome the spring
Oh when will the church bells for victory ring?
And the soldiers return and all England rejoice
O then I'll be wed to the lad of my choice
And I would that the wars were well over, etc.
Baring-Gould’s note says: ‘This song, the date of which is probably the time of George I, has been
obtained from only one singer. No variants as yet’. The Garland version can be seen in the VWML
Digital Archive [Image SBG/1/8/8]
Working Notebook 4 [Image SBG/2/3/82] has Baring-Gould’s text with his notes and changes made
when he was re-writing the song for publication.
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Other Collected versions
The Roud Index lists only one other collected version; Gwilym Davies recorded a version of the
song from Roy Norman of Ruardean, Glos., in 1996. In an e-mail to me (30 June 2014) Gwilym
wrote:
‘Roy Norman was an old boy who knew some songs from oral tradition but also was a paid up
EFDSS member and wrote down songs in his song book from various sources. He also collected
song books. When listening to him, I had to disentangle what he had learnt from oral sources and
what from printed sources. I am fairly sure that he got this song from the Baring-Gould collection
and in fact he mentions B-G at the end of his performance, so I think from the academic point of
view you can ignore it. I have attached his rendering of it so that you can check.’
Listening to the recording, it is clear that this is, indeed, a performance of Baring-Gould’s version,
as printed in A Garland of Country Song. Roy Norman has included the second verse of BaringGould’s rewrite, which does not appear in Roy Palmer’s book (see below), another possible
source, or in other recordings of the song.
Printed Versions
Early broadsides etc
The song appears on broadsides and in various garlands and chapbooks. As an example, here is
the text from ‘A Collection of New Songs’, printed by J. Butler of Worcester in about 1792, where
it is given the title ‘The Damsel’s Wish that Wars were all over’.
Down in a meadow where violets do blow
I saw pretty Polly a milking her cow
The tune that she sung made all the groves ring
My Billy’s gone from me to serve the king
And fight till the wars are all over
I stood amazed to hear what she said
The birds stood whistling on every green shade
The notes that she sung made all the groves ring
My Billy’s gone from me to serve the king
And fight till the wars are all over
I step’d up to her and made this reply
And said, my dear Polly, what makes you to cry
My Billy’s gone from me whom I love so dear
And the Americans will kill him, so great is my fear
And I wish the wars were all over
I said, my dear Polly can you fancy me
I‘ll make you as happy as happy can be
Oh, no! said the damsel, that never can be
I shall never be happy till Billy I see
And I wish that the wars were all over
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Then adieu to my parents, no longer I’ll stay
To seek my dear Billy I’ll hasten away
To see if my Billy will make me his wife
So free for his sake I’ll venture my life
And fight till the wars are all over
I’ll go to a taylor without more delay
And dress myself up in a young man’s array
So like a bold fellow, so neat & trim
For my Billy’s sake I’ll go serve the king
And fight till the wars are all over.
Another 18th Century source is a manuscript written by the American, Timothy Connor, who had
been a prisoner of war in England. Connor’s manuscript was published by George G. Carey as A
Sailor’s Songbag: An American Rebel in an English Prison, 1777-79, University of Massachusetts
Press, 1976. It contains a version of ‘I wish the wars were well over’ that is very similar to the
printed text above.
Down in the meadows the violets so blue
There I saw pretty Polly milking her cow
The song that she sung made all the grove to ring
My Billy is gone and left me to serve the king
And I wish the wars were all over
I step’t up to her and made this reply
And said my dear Polly what makes you to cry
My Billy is gone from me whom I love so dear
The Americans will kill him so great is my fear
And I wish the wars were all over
I said, my dear Polly can you fancy me
I‘ll make you as happy as happy can be
No, no, sir said she that never can be
I ne’er be happy till my Billy I see
And I wish the wars were all over
I still amazed to hear what she said
The small bird a singing on every tree
The notes that she sung where nightingale notes
How the lark and the linnets warble their throats
And I wish the wars were all over
I now for my parents no longer can stay
To seek for my Billy I’ll hast away
To see if my Billy will make me his wife
So free for his sake I’ll venture my life
And I wish the wars were all over
I now to some tailor I’ll hast and away
To rig myself out in some young man’s array
Like a bold fellow, so neat and so trim
So free for his sake I’ll go serve the king
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And I wish the wars were all over
The note to the song reads:
‘This song is probably taken from a broadside slip. In the Madden Collection (5: 215) there is a
version which includes only verses one, three and six in truncated form. However, elsewhere in
the same collection (7: 418; 8: 364; 368) there are three versions practically identical to Connor’s
manuscript piece. For further listings from oral tradition, see Dean-Smith (p. 77). For a variant see
Baring-Gould, A Garland of Country Song (pp. 18-19’).
The listing referred to in Dean-Smith only mentions Baring-Gould’s Garland version.
The American singer, Tim Eriksen, has recorded a shortened version of the song which he has
constructed from Connor’s text, which runs as follows
Down by deep water where sweet linden stand
I saw pretty Polly wringing her hands
The song that she sung made the whole grove to ring
My Billy has left me to fight for a king
And I wish the wars were all over
I stood in amaze to hear what she said
I'll follow my Billy whether living or dead
The notes that she sung were the nightingale's notes
How the lark and the linnet they warble their throats
And I wish the wars were all over
I said my dear Polly if you'll stay with me
I'll make you as happy as happy can be
No then she said that never can be
I'll never be happy till my Billy I see
And I wish the wars were all over
Now from my parents I'll haste and away
I'll dress myself out in a young man's array
And every company that I pass by
I'll ask for my Billy or where he does lie
And I wish the wars were all over
Carey did not include tunes and Eriksen has provided one of his own. The song can be heard on
‘Soul of the January Hills’ (2010, unaccompanied) and ‘Tim Eriksen’ (2001, with accompaniment)
In 1899 the Irish poet P. J. McCall published a book called Songs of Erinn, which contained a set of
verses: ‘Oh that the wars were all over; A ballad of Ninety Eight.’ Though this references the song
under discussion, it is purely a literary creation.
Twentieth Century Collections
An Irish version of the song was printed in P.W. Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, Dublin:
Longmans, Green & CO., 1909, p. 232-233. Joyce’s description of the song is strangely at variance
with its content, since he describes it as being ‘… on the old and well-worn theme of a young man
returning disguised to his lover, and after an interview in which he proves her faithfulness, reveals
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himself and all is happy’. He claimed that he heard the song sung by members of his family when
he was a child, but that this was all that he could remember.
His song text was as follows:
'Twas down in yon meadows where the violets are blue,
I saw my pretty Polly and she milking her cow:
And the song that she sung made the valleys to ring,
Saying, "My Jemmy's gone from me to serve George our king"
And she sung that the wars were all o'er
Crying , "Oh, that the wars were all o'er!"
I said, "My pretty Polly, if you'll fancy me,
I'll make you as happy, as happy can be."
"Oh no, no, sir" she said, "That never can be.
For I ne'er will be happy till my Jemmy I see."
And she sung that the wars were all o'er
Crying , "Oh, that the wars were all o'er!"
"'Tis straight to some dealer I'll quickly away,
And I'll dress myself out in a young man's array:
And like a bold sailor so neat and so trim,
I'll venture my life for George our great king."
And she sung that the wars were all o'er
Crying , "Oh, that the wars were all o'er!"
A version of the song was included in Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs, The English Folksinger,
Glasgow and London: Collins, 1979, p. 92 (notes p. 119). They gave the first 3 verses from BaringGould’s version and then added the last two verses from that in Carey’s, A Sailor’s Songbag,
described above.
In the same year, Roy Palmer published ‘The Rambling Soldier’, in which he included a version of
the song which he took from Baring-Gould’s rewritten text, though he omits the second verse.
In the meadow one morning when pearly with dew
A fair pretty maid plucked violets blue
I heard her clear voice making all the woods ring
"Oh my love is in Flanders to fight for the king
And I would that the wars were well over
Oh I would that the wars were all done
I’ll pluck the red robin so jaunty and gay
Yet I have my Robin but he's far away
His jacket is red – and his cheeks – as the rose
He sings of his Nell as to battle he goes
And I would that the wars were well over, etc.
Ten thousand of blue bells to welcome the spring
Oh when will the church bells for victory ring
And the soldiers return and all England rejoice
Oh then I'll be wed to the lad of my choice
And I would that the wars were well over, etc.
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Palmer’s tune has some minor changes from that collected from Sam Fone.
He adds a note that ‘Red Robin’ is a Devonshire name for the flower ‘Herb Robert’.
Peter and Iona Opie mention the song in The Singing Game, Oxford: OUP, 1985, as a possible
source of a children’s game song, ‘Down by the riverside’. They quote a slip (possibly similar to the
one in the Madden collection mentioned by Carey) from the 1770s in their possession, giving the
text:
Down in the meadows the violets so blue
There I saw pretty Polly a milking her cow
The song that she sung made all the grove ring
My Billy is gone and left me to serve the King
I stept up to her and made her this reply
And said my dear Polly what makes you to cry?
My Billy is gone from me, that I love so dear
The Americans will kill him so great is my fear
I said my dear Polly can you fancy me?
I’ll make you as happy as happy can be.
No, no, said the fair maid that never can be,
I ne’er shall be happy till my Billy I see
This bears such a strong resemblance to Sam Fone’s version that it would be very interesting to
examine this broadside.
Recorded Versions:
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Tish Stubbs (with Sam Richards) sang this on their recording ‘Invitation to North America:
the New World seen through English song’, Saydisc, 1977 – re-released in 2011 as Saydisc
CDSDL280.
Roy Harris on ‘The Rambling Soldier’, Fellside FE107, 1979, which was produced to
accompany Roy Palmer’s book of the same name.
Helen Hockenhull (then Helen Watson) on Muckram Wakes ‘Warbles, Jangles and Reeds’
(Highway SHY7009), 1980. The basis was, again, Roy Palmer’s version
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Eliza Carthy performed the song with her band, The Ratcatchers, in 2007 and said, in a post
on Mudcat, that the song would be included on the next Waterson:Carthy CD. It did not, in
the event, appear. Her version was, again, based on the Palmer text and tune.
Jon Boden, who had been a member of The Ratcatchers, recorded the song for 3rd July in
his ‘Folk Song a Day’ project and it was released on the July album of the series. His
treatment was, like Liza Carthy’s, derived from Roy Palmer’s published version, though
there are a few minor word changes, the most interesting of which is that the line ‘I
plucked the red robin so jaunty and gay’ becomes ‘Up spoke the red robin so jaunty and
gay’.
In 2014 the Askew Sisters included a version of ‘I wish the Wars Were All Over’ on their CD
‘In the Air or the Earth’, Rootbeat Records RBRCD20. This is a new treatment of the song,
which is analysed below.
Notes on the Askew Sisters sources etc.
The CD note on ‘In the Air or the Earth’ says (with corrections by Hazel Askew to some typos in the
original):
‘Another song full of natural imagery is I Wish the Wars Were All Over. In many ways it’s a nonpolitical anti-war song, telling the story of those left behind in times of conflict. At first it appears
to be a typical pastoral song, but the literal images of flowers and nature start to become
metaphors for the woman’s absent lover sent to war; she is left powerless, so she plucks flowers,
tangible things from her environment, and uses their symbolism to cross the boundary into his
unreachable world. Versions of this song date back to at least the 1700s, but it is timeless and
could apply to many periods of conflict. The tune is based on the one collected by Sabine BaringGould from Sam Fone of Mary Tavy, Devon in March 1893. Our text is again assembled from many
different versions and Hazel reworked and rewrote some of the lines.’
In an e-mail to me (20 July 2014) Hazel wrote:
‘I put together a version of the song quite a few years ago, and only started singing it out in the
last couple of years when I learnt the concertina, as it didn't really work with the melodeon. It was
actually one of the main reasons I learnt the concertina! I looked at a lot of versions, and I used
most the words from the most commonly collected ones (which I think are like Sam Fone's). I
reworked the third verse a bit and wrote the line - 'but I fear that those bullets paint roses on his
chest'. But mostly, the song is the same as Sam Fone's.
The Askew Sisters song text runs:
Early one morning when pearly with dew
I saw a fair maiden pluck violets so blue
And the song that she sang made all the woods ring
‘O my love is in Flanders to fight for the King
And I wish that the wars were all over
And I wish that the wars were all done
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I stepped up to her and made this reply
I said my fair maiden what, what makes you to cry
Well my Billy’s gone from me, I love him so dear
And the French they will kill him, so great is my fear
And I wish that the wars were all over etc.
I’ll pluck these red roses so fine and so gay
Yet I have my own flower – but he’s far away
And his jacket is red, like the robin’s red breast
But I fear that those bullets paint roses on his chest
And I wish that the wars were all over
Ten thousands of bluebells now welcome the spring
O but when will the church-bells for victory ring?
And the soldiers come home, and the people rejoice
And then I’ll be wed to the lad of my choice
And I wish that the wars were all over
The key features of their treatment of the song are as follows:
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Their primary source is Baring-Gould’s rewritten text from A Garland of Country Song
They have, like Roy Palmer and the singers who followed his lead, dropped Baring-Gould’s
verse 2, but, unlike them, have replaced it with the second verse collected from Sam Fone.
They have replaced the ‘Mericans’ with the French, to keep the action in Flanders.
In verse one the third line changes from ‘I heard her clear voice making all the wood ring’
to ‘And the song that she sang made all the woods ring’.
In verse 3, ‘Red Robin’ has been replaced by ‘Red Roses’ and the third line becomes ‘And
his jacket is red, like the robin’s red breast’
As noted by Hazel above, the fourth line of the third verse is her own work
The third line of the fourth verse changes from ‘And the soldiers return and all England
rejoice’ to ‘And the soldiers come home, and the people rejoice’.
There are a few other minor word changes
The tune is essentially that collected by Baring-Gould from Sam Fone, though they have
made a few changes, notably to the last bar of the 4th line. Like Roy Palmer, they have
simplified the last few bars.
Martin Graebe
1 July 2014
I am grateful for the help in untangling this skein that I received from Laura Smyth at the Vaughan Williams Memorial
Library, from Hazel Askew, Gwilym Davies, and (as ever) Shan Graebe.
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